Metamorphosis
by Azrael's Wing
Summary: Naruto and Kyuubi, human and demon, good and evil... but how long can one stare into the abyss without facing the abyss within? And, in the end, how much does it really matter?


Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own Naruto or any of its characters, so I certainly won't be getting any profit from this piece of drivel my mind managed vomit through my fingers. That's graphic enough for all of you? Good. Now that the obligatory bullshit is taken care of, let's get on with the show…

Warnings: Blood, gore and bad language. Maybe some pretty twisted humor along the line as well.

Metamorphosis

By: Azrael's Wing

Chapter 1: Rude awakenings and foxy problems…

He was running through a forest filled with malformed trees and ever shifting shadows and it was magnificent. The excitement of the hunt filled his veins, making his blood boil and senses sharpen into a fine edge. As the hunt went on, the scent of his prey filled his nostrils with heady musk. He couldn't see himself, but what did it matter? Everything was perfect. As the hunt continued through the forest of shadows he could catch glimpses of blood red moon on the sky, its crimson glare watching his hunt with its unblinking gaze. Finally he reached his elusive prey and he faced its imposing figure in his field of vision.

It was trapped in a dead end made of fallen trees and errant boulders, and it had no other option but face its hunter. Turning around, it revealed to himself to him, its gruesome face glaring at him. It was a face of an inhuman beast, grey skinned reptilian face with pair of glowing green eyes. They were like two diseased lanterns glowing in the darkness, their malevolent gaze casting its hatred and defiance to him.

As its head showed it was a reptilian by nature, and its slick and grey skin was pulled tightly over its taunt muscles, showing him its physical strength in most efficient way. It was prepared for battle for it life, and he wouldn't have it any other way. Howling his challenge at the crimson moon he leaped at it, his claws prepared to rip and rend its flesh into pieces.

It didn't spend any time in idle chitchat either, growling aloud and charging at him at speed belaying its size, wielding its long and sharp claws like deadly weapons they were. Blood in his veins sang to him as he responded to the challenge likewise, his own claws ripping deep into the thick skin of his opponent, drawing out its green blood. His opponent's claws struck hard at him as well, sending sprays of his blood flying high into the air, only to fall down like crimson rain as his body felt the delicious pain of battle.

The fight intensified as it went on, their spilled blood painting the desolate forest with vivid shades of red and green, and their angry growls and howls of pain filled the otherwise silent air around them. For a while, it seemed that the fight would go on forever, but then one of his attacks finally struck true, making his opponent fly back from crippling hit to its legs and ripping through tendons and flesh as if they were but air. Full of bloodlust, he charged in to finish the fight, and raised his bloodied talons for the final strike. He paused only for a moment as his opponent lifted its head for a defiant glare, the glow of its eyes ebbing slightly.

"Finish it!" it growled in its guttural voice, its eyes flashing brightly in its brief and final act of defiance.

Saying nothing, he simply brought down his claws at his opponent, shattering its head like an overripe melon, and splattering green blood and pieces brain all over the ground. He raised his claws, still dripping his opponent's lifeblood, and licked them clean, savoring the bitter taste of the green fluid on his tongue. He felt content as yet another rival was brought down by his might. A wide grin spread upon his face and amused chuckles soon followed in its wake.

"I am the master of this domain. I am Kyuubi and let no one here in Makai forget that, and if anyone wishes to challenge me come forth or be gone!" He shouted to the night, his voice echoing through the night.

_His voice… was it his voice? That was not his voice! Who was he? He… or was he… she? What was… _and then everything went black, the sweet oblivion filling him and sending him away from all this, far away to other dreams. The last thing he knew was but a voice. It was puzzled, wondering and undeniably female as it spoke in his mind.

_How can this be? It shouldn't be possible, no matter how great mistake he did back then..._

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Naruto screamed as he woke from a dream, his mouth still almost tasting bitter blood as the adrenalin soared through his veins. Looking franticly around, he recognized the familiar walls of his room and realized that he was still in his own bedroom, not in that feverish dream world. For the moment he simply waited for his sweat drenched body to stop shaking, his breathing still erratic from the startled awakening and the fading memories of the dream. He faintly felt that there had something different about this dream, something that he should remember, but whatever it was it still escaped him.

When his body finally calmed down, he raised from his bed, discarding his shredded sheets almost offhandedly. That was nothing new after all; these dreams seemed to occur every night, ever since that battle… ever since the last time he had used the power of the Kyuubi. Those shredded sheets were only a minor detail related to that, not even worth bothering anymore…

Walking to his bathroom like a spastic zombie on drugs, he splashed his face with cold water and turned the shower on, hoping that it would clear his mind from those dreams. Looking briefly into the mirror, he searched his face for any changes that the night might have brought upon it. Had his teeth become any sharper, his eyes changed color ever so slightly or had those whiskers of his become a bit wider? Perhaps he would develop taste for raw meat or something? It had almost become a tradition to him, to make sure that the damned fox wasn't taking him over, turning himself into something else.

"Well, I certainly look like a happy camper," Naruto finally muttered to himself, looking at his pale faced and red eyed reflection from the mirror. Well, thankfully at least they weren't that kind of red eyes that he feared for, being only a sign of too little restful sleep and too many fucked up dreams.

"I guess I'm still myself, aren't I? It would seem so at least, not that those with mental problems usually know of them… Hell, I'm far too young to have this kind of problems!"

Finished with his morning examinations, he decided that he was still himself, more or less… Uzumaki Naruto, the future Hokage of Konoha and otherwise the general pain ass to most of the villagers and ninjas. Happy that was at least all right, even if he had to deal with an identity crisis on a daily basis, he jumped straight into the steaming shower, letting the scalding water wash away the last remains of his dreams. The hot shower was soothing, washing away the accumulated sweat and tiredness, making him feel at least moderately prepared for whatever troubles the day might bring along.

Stepping out of the closest place of heaven on earth at that moment, he made a quick trail to his cloth closet and rummaged around a bit, eventually pulling out clean underwear and the usual orange suit that had become a trademark of his. He pulled them on, in a way reaffirming his identity that way, all the while walking towards kitchen.

Now, if there was something that would make things feel like usual, it would be the food of gods; substance otherwise known to men as ramen. Strange enough, these days his favorite flavor seemed be beef, as if all the other flavors had lost their taste to him. Well, that was a minor detail anyway; ramen was ramen whatever the flavor was.

Warming up a cup of his choice, he pushed these little worries out of his mind. There were more important things to worry about anyway… worries that weren't that far away. In fact, as soon as he went to check his mail they came at him, jumping straight into his face like an angry horde of berserk Chihuahuas… or it seemed at least at that moment.

His mail box had once again been flooded by angry, spiteful and otherwise generally pissed off letters from of so grateful villagers of Konoha. All of them written anonymously of course, god forbid for any of them to grow a spine or something, instead of saying these things to him face to face. Not that the letters were that diverse in their contents anyway, all of them saying the same shit over and over. That he was a demon, a monster; that he should leave Konoha and never return. It was all that and more, with much worse language on top of it.

_Same old, same old… Just why can't those idiots accept me? Sure, I didn't bring Sasuke back from Orochimaru's flunkies, but would they rather have a corpse? The damn fool just wouldn't listen to reason, and no doubt Sakura and the villagers would like to get their precious Uchida back in one piece._

_I really thought that the mission would make them see me in a different light. Heh, guess I was right, but not in the way I wanted to be…_

He had thought that the mission would be a perfect way to prove his worth to the villagers, to make them realize that he wasn't the demon that had ravaged the village years ago, or just the dead last student everyone else seemed to think. It was just his luck that it backfired of so nicely up his face.

Sure, back when he had been the loser of the team, they had 'just' hated him. Now, after showing them that he could perhaps beat a genius of two, that he was more than some failure of a ninja, they both hated and feared him instead. Sometimes he wondered if the gods were laughing at him from where ever those bastards might live, looking at the Uzumaki Show in live and color from some freaking crystal ball of theirs.

It was such a mess really… The one place he so dearly wanted to call home didn't seem to want him, or at least most of those who were in it didn't. Sure, there were those who he cared for, or who seemed to care for him. There was Iruka, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Kakashi, Team 7 and quite a few others. …And then of course there was the village itself. Aside from those that lived here and hated his guts, it was a pretty nice place and he had no intention let some petty small minded cretins to drive him out. It was just that… it was so hard sometimes to keep up the smile against such an adversary.

"Bah, guess I'd better not worry about this so much. It's not as if it's anything new, they've always hated my guts, and they wouldn't stop it for some small reasons like getting Sasuke back or such. Well then, of you go…" he muttered and threw the offending pile paper to his trash bin, on top of a towering pile of all the previous pieces of literal chicken shit.

These worries now out of sight and mind, he then slurped down his breakfast at a record speed and made his way to the door, as prepared as he could ever be to a new day in Konoha, the bastard central. Opening the door, he briefly wondered why there seemed to have been something missing from the taste of his ramen lately… something salty. The thought was so elusive though, that he just couldn't pin it down. It was as if for some reason his mind didn't want him to know it. Shaking his head absently, he decided to drop the thought. It wasn't as if it something important, maybe the company had just changed the recipe or something. He'd check it when he'd get back. After all, he needed to re-stock with ramen anyway. Maybe a change of brand would be in order… That happy little thought in mind, he walked out of the door and into the bustling streets of Konoha.

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It was a beautiful day; the sun was shining, birds were singing, there were even small children playing at a nearby park. Truly, it was days like this that made him really appreciate this village, all despite the frowning asshole ninjas and angrily glaring villagers. Now, if he only knew what to do…

There were no missions for him to do, no training to be done. The old hag had given all of them a week long vacation, something most of them had needed after fighting the curse sealed freaks of Orochimaru. After all, Neji had some nasty unnecessary holes in him and Chouji was one big full body bruise after burning all his fat off, not that the rest of the team much better. Fortunately for him though, his wounds had healed completely in few days due to Kyuubi's chakra. This had one unfortunate side-effect however, and it was that he had lots of free time and nothing to do. Now that was killing him with concentrated boredom; a method of killing more far more annoying than deadly, but also very good in driving him nuts.

He had tried to look for Jiraiya, hoping to pester the old pervert to teach him something new, but the ero-sennin was naturally nowhere to be found. Same could be said about most of the sensei and ninjas as well. Maybe Tsunade had given them some missions or something; because it just seemed as if they had disappeared from the face of the earth. Oh well, perhaps he should try to find Sakura and see how she was doing. It wasn't as if he had better things to do, so he might as well go see her. After that he could go see Iruka teaching the little brats in the academy. Now that might be worth of a laugh or two. Now, if he only knew where Sakura could be…

Almost as soon as he'd managed to finish that train of thought, the previous peace and quiet around him was interrupted by a high pitched yell cutting into it like a hot knife into butter. Coming straight from the hospital, he recognized it immediately of course. He had been in the receiving end of it so many times in the past after all. It was definitely Sakura!

Fearing a surprise attack from Orochimaru or Akatsuki, he raced to the direction of the scream like an orange streak of lightning. Coming next to the hospital he slowed down, and silently went into stealth mode and sneaked into it. As he warily searched Sakura, he wondered what the hell was going on, for it didn't feel like an enemy attack to him. It was far too silent and clean, Sakura's continuous yelling paradoxically excluded, and the place seemed to radiate the kind of calm one might indeed expect from a hospital. In fact, nothing seemed to be amiss… except not a single soul could be seen in the hallways. Now hearing, that certainly would be entirely another can of worms…

Sneaking through the corridors he made his way onward, quietly progressing to the direction of the high pitched voice. After a short while of sneaking around, he began to suspect that he already knew where his goal was, as the pieces began to fall in places.

He might not have been the smartest tool in the shack, but even he could put together a puzzle when the pieces were as simple as these. What do get when you put together pissed off Sakura and the hospital room that used to hold now missing Sasuke Uchida? Perhaps the reason why he hadn't found Kakashi anywhere… Right now though, Naruto's curiosity was killing the proverbial feline in numerous gruesome ways, this metaphorical act prompting him to head straight at the sound of inner Sakura's outer vocalizing.

Hiding in the shadows as well as he could, he warily approached a slightly opened door, uncertain of the sight he would expect to see. By the volume of the argument coming from Sakura, he almost feared that he'd end up witnessing some bloody scene straight from a horror movie. His every step brought him closer and closer to a sliver of light coming from the door ajar, and finally he could hear what was going on.

"Why then aren't you aren't sending another team after Sasuke?!" Screamed obviously irate Sakura to someone behind the door, her anger directed towards whoever she was talking to.

"Because it would be suicide, that's why. We can't afford to send a team straight into enemy stronghold just because of a single genin, a genin that apparently that apparently joined that enemy out of his own free will for that matter," Kakashi's voice patiently answered to Sakura, not that Sakura seemed to appreciate it.

"Sasuke would never do that! He's just confused, that's all!" Sakura yelled back, the volume of her voice raising several decibels to that response.

"Please calm down Sakura. You know as well as I do that Sasuke's ambition is to kill his brother, and he's apparently willing to do anything to achieve that goal. Even to betray Konoha it seems. Now, if only Naruto would have…" Kakashi started absently, but never got to finish his sentence.

"Naruto! It's all his fault, isn't it? If he hadn't showed up to Sasuke back then, he'd still be here! And he broke his promise! He promised to bring Sasuke back, no matter what! But did he? No, of course not…" Inner Sakura ranted on and on about numerous shortcomings of Naruto, blissfully unaware that object of ire was standing just outside the door, a nail after nail being hammered into his heart.

"When I'll find him, I'm going to make him pay for this!" Sakura finally yelled as she turned to leave the room, leaving slightly shocked Kakashi behind. It was at this moment that Kakashi felt Naruto's presence behind the door, and realized the possible consequences come from this confrontation. He was already moving to stop Sakura but he was too late, and things wouldn't get any better because of it.

Sakura stormed out of the door, or tried to at least, and in the process she slammed the door against one particular eavesdropper that was Naruto

Sitting on his butt with a hand at his sore head, Naruto raised his head to look at Sakura in the eyes, his shattered feelings shown in his eyes. The sad look was enough to send inner Sakura back whence it came, but it was too late to repair the damage done. Before Sakura could find anything to say, something that would fix things, but Naruto already was gone. Standing behind shell shocked Sakura Kakashi could only shake his head sadly as the situation spiraled even more out of control.

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He ran like itself hell was upon his heels, and that's what it felt like inside of him as well. Listening Sakura's raging had hurt him more than he had expected, much more. It wasn't as if he didn't know how she thought of him most of the time, even after all the things that had happened to them. But even so, it had hurt. The worst thing was, some of that was true, as much as he didn't want to think about it.

Perhaps that fight at the water towers had indeed pushed Sasuke over the edge, and he had indeed promised to Sakura to bring Sasuke back. What he could have done about the first fight, he didn't know. He had no idea what else he could have done back then but to fight, but the rescue… that was his fault in part. He had no real control of the powers of Kyuubi, so he had to hold back or to perhaps kill Sasuke. Was that a mistake? He really couldn't tell anymore, but thanks to that his life was even more screwed. Thanks to it he had broken his word!

_Damned fox! Thanks to it almost everyone hates me, Sasuke's psychotic brother is after me, and everything else seems to be going to the pits as well! Fuck you Fourth and the toad you rid on for giving me this damned pest. If I'd wanted a tattoo, I'd have paid for one! _Naruto thought angrily while running away from the hospital, his destiny unknown even to him.

Jumping over people and buildings he ran as fast as he could, all the while swearing in his mind like a sailor hanging dry. Even though he had no particular destination in mind, perhaps his subconscious had something planned, because soon enough he found himself at village gates and zooming past the Anbu's guarding Konoha's border.

The ninja's had barely enough time to react before one Kyuubi powered human missile had left them in its dust. For a moment the Anbu's tried to follow Naruto's erratic trail, but in the end they had no other choice but to report this incident to Hokage, and let the container of the demon fox go where-ever it went. By the time they had made their reports, Naruto had already reached a nearby forest and was pretty puzzled about current location.

"Now where in hell am I? This doesn't look like Konoha to me. Damn it, I really should have paid attention when I started running. Now I'm still angry, in middle nowhere and getting hungry. What else could go wrong?" And after those five magical words Naruto suddenly clutched his stomach in pain, as it felt as if his seal was on fire and burning him alive.

"What… is… this? It hasn't… felt… this bad… before. What is going… on?" Naruto gasped in pain before passing out on the forest floor.

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When he finally woke up, he immediately realized that something strange was going on. It seemed as if he still was in Konoha, or at least he thought so. The room didn't seem familiar, but most of the people in front of him were dressed like Konoha ninja's all right. He had no idea who strangely dressed bald men were, or what they were doing, dancing and drawing strange symbols to walls and floor. Also, he saw everything in shades of red and black and he couldn't move at all. As he tried, he noticed that he couldn't speak either even though it seemed that others could speak just fine.

_What the hell is going on!? Who are these people and how did I end up here? And why's everything colored so weirdly?_

_**Be quiet and listen brat, you might learn something. There are reasons for most things, and destruction of your village had one too. See your Konoha's sins as they were!**_

_Kyuubi?! What are you up to? What sins? What are you talking about?_

_**Shut up and listen! It's not as if I planned to show this to you, so pay attention.**_

_What…?_

Then, suddenly he could hear two of the ninja's speak to each other, their whispering voices heard perfectly in his mind.

"Hiashi-san, are you certain that the circle will hold? I have no desire to be devoured by this… thing." A man dressed in black and blue asked while throwing a doubting gaze at the other man and at him.

"It will hold Ichiro-san. The men I hired were the best of their profession, and they guarantee it on their life."

"Hmph, it will be all our lives if they're mistaken. Demons are not to be taken lightly; you of all people should know that."

"Getting cold feet at this point? I wouldn't expect that from you of all people, Uchida. We all agreed that this was the best way to do it back then, and I you can't leave at this point anyway. The ritual must be complete before we can leave."

"It is not that. I simply feel uncomfortable at presence of such a beast… or in that of our 'allies' for that matter. I wouldn't trust then even as far as I could throw them."

"Calm down. It will be over soon anyway, and then our power will be enough to deal with that annoyance."

"The Fourth is hardly just an annoyance, Hiashi-san. There were reasons for why the council chose him, and not in least of them were his skills. If he finds out about this, not even your prestige can protect you."

"It doesn't matter. Once I have the demon blood in me I'll take care of him. A rematch has long been coming to us, Yondaime and me. This time I will take care of things once and for all."

"I don't think…" Ichiro began but was hushed down by Hiashi.

"Shhh, the ritual is almost done. Now all that's left is to collect our prize.

At the same time as Hiashi mentioned this to his companion, one of the bald men began to approach him. The man stared intently at him as he walked towards him, his painted face dripping of sweat as he lifted huge ceremonial spear above his head and prepared to plunge it at his chest.

He started to panic, fearing for his life as he couldn't move to protect himself. Then suddenly he felt an enormous burst of energy within him, and a huge burst of red chakra and threw the man across the room. Then he began to grow slowly but growing rate and an angry voice boomed from within him.

**Foolish mortals! Do you think you can hold mighty Kyuubi with your pathetic circles of protection? And to think you'd dare to summon me from my domain just so that you could steal my blood and powers. For that you and your village shall suffer all the torment that mightiest of Makai has for you.**

Growing at ever increasing rate he finally broke through the ceiling of the building, and then everything faded away leaving only darkness behind. Then suddenly he could move again, though he had no idea where to go since everything was enshrouded in darkness. Looking frantically around for something, anything, Naruto finally yelled his frustration to the darkness, and to who he saw as the source of his distress.

"Hey, stupid fox! What's the big idea and where in hell am I?"

**_Are you really this stupid, brat? We're in your mind, or our mind as it now seems be. Don't ask me how. Perhaps that bastard Fourth of yours screwed up the Shisou Fuuin. Having the other fool messing around with the seal didn't probably help that much either._**

"Oh… Then what about that thing just a moment ago? What was that all about?"

_**That was a memory of mine, memory of the time when I was summoned to your village. Heh, then again Hyuga's probably don't publicize that fact much if at all.**_

"Summoned!" Naruto shouted, feeling quite surprised of the revelation.

**_Oh yes. Surprised of that, brat? Are you surprised that those high and mighty ninjas of yours called me to Konoha by themselves. I had no desire to leave where I was, but those fools didn't care. Death would have been a suitable reward for it, and that tried to give them._**

"But not everyone was guilty, and you tried to destroy the entire village! That's too much!"

_**Should I care? They were just humans after all. Not that you should worry about it that much. I have little desire to destroy the village anymore…**_

"What? Why?"

**_Seeing that the mighty Uchida's have all but fallen and the Hyuga's influence has weakened as well, there really isn't that much of point in further destruction. Not even demons wish to destroy everything, and there is cold satisfaction in seeing those two families fall from grace. You should hope for that as well. Hiashi Hyuga has never been your friend and he still controls much of the council, though not as much as in the past._**

"What do mean? Sure, I don't like the bastard but why should I care about his fate? It's not as if he has anything against me personally, right?"

**_Hah, as if… Do you think he appreciates that you instead of him now hold my powers. Half of his clan fell to my fangs and he lost even more than half of his control of the council. Even with Uchida's gone; the man is still hindered by his past mistakes. After all, even though they publicly scorn you, quite a few elders know the truth about my coming. It's just easier to blame your existence than to challenge house of Hyuga. No doubt his influence would explain much of the scorn the villagers hold for you…_**

"They know this, and still let me suffer?! And while the villagers throw rocks at me, this fucking bastard heaps more and more shit on me through this council?"

_**Such is life, brat. What are you going to do about it?**_

"I… I don't know. …hey, why are you talking so much to me now? I thought you didn't like me?"

_**Hmph, haven't got anything better to do. Also, we do seem to be merging thanks to that blasted seal, and perhaps I'm influenced by that as well.**_

"Merging! Hell, I don't want to become you!"

**_Do you think I like the idea any better, brat? I have no desire to end life in such a ill fitting manner. However, there's not much I can do about it. The seal is botched, and no one in Konoha can do anything about, not even that fool you call Jiraiya. It was his fumbling that has caused this partly to happen._**

"…and outside Konoha?"

**_Who knows? It's possible, but do you really they'll let you go to such a fools quest. The moment they know you're talking with me, they'll try to seal me again, and who knows what kind of problems would that bring._**

"It's not their choice to make. It's my life… and yours as well I suppose. If I'll go, then I'll go and there's nothing else to it. It's not that there's much to hold me there anyway."

**_Really? Fine, let's make a deal then, brat. I'll give you my chakra to use, as much as you can anyway, and you'll leave Konoha to search for a cure for this mess we're in. Any other problems between us can wait till then. Is it a deal?_**

"It's a deal!"

_**Excellent! Now go and finish your business in the village before you leave.**_

As soon as Kyuubi said that, Naruto seemed to fade away from black void, leaving behind only a pair of crimson eyes and a whispering feminine voice.

_You're something else, aren't you kit. I hope you'll succeed, for both of our sake…_

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Deep in the forest, Naruto's body began to twitch as he woke up from his slumber. Shaking the cobwebs out of his head, he rose from the ground and opened his eyes. They flashed briefly red, but then returned to their ordinary color. Feeling the brief burst of crimson chakra in his system, Naruto smiled faintly before he began his trail back to Konoha. He had some serious planning to do…

TBC…

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AN: Another fic started! Am I insane or something? Wait, don't answer that… Anyway, this fic was partly inspired by the fact that I just wanted to see could I write a better Naruto fic than some of the utter crap out there. Therefore, as you can guess, reviews would be greatly appreciated. Hopefully my newfound inspiration doesn't run dry too soon…

- Azrael's Wing

Welcome to the premier opening of the universally beneficial… MASTURBATING NECROPHILIAC BASTARD SPAWN CLUB

Paracelssus couldn't get a clue if he were drenched in clue pheromones, dancing in a clue field in the middle of clue mating season, wearing a clue suit, and shouting, "Clooo! Cloooo!"


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